Rejuvenating Public Libraries - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

A partnership of the University of Cape Town's Design Thinking School and the Western Cape Public Library Service sought to reconfigure the service delivery model of public libraries to draw in South Africa's young adult demographic. A pilot in Wellington (Cape Winelands) yielded three user-tested solutions to improve the library services model and effectively respond to the often neglected needs of young people not in employment, education, or training (NEETs).

Innovation Summary

Innovation Overview

Over the last three years, progressive funding deficits from the South African National Government have forced public libraries into a challenging state of affairs. In the Western Cape, many of the 373 public libraries in the province have had to cut book lists and decrease librarians' hours, adding to the strain placed on this public good service.

Following the launch of the University of Cape Town's Design Thinking School Afrika in 2022, the Innovation for Impact Initiative approached the design school to support the province to workshop a new service delivery model within the constraints of the library's operating environment.

As a pilot for this work, the Western Cape Library Service became the live case study for the design schools' students with the challenge statement - "How Might We redesign the multi-use libraries experience for young adults in under-resourced communities in a world where they see libraries as a facility for the youth in school and they feel excluded from the resources libraries offer and the communities they foster."

A pilot location in Wellington, in the Cape Winelands, was chosen as host.

This challenge yielded three user-tested solutions. These solutions and the successful pilot are informing the service's February 2024 Think Tank Conference, which is themed "New sustainable service delivery model for public libraries". The objective of this conference is to further test the ideas proposed by the design thinking school and refine them to sharpen our strategic focus on supporting the youth not in employment, education or training (NEETs) in the Western Cape.

Innovation Description

What Makes Your Project Innovative?

Public libraries in South Africa play a vital role in communities, as hubs of knowledge, education, and social interaction - but the model has not been updated in 200+ years. Design thinking has brought new approaches to public libraries, making them more adaptable, user-centric, and innovative.
In low income communities, the potential for public libraries to intervene in dire economic and social circumstances is immense. From helping the elderly to apply for their grants to helping parents to register their kids for university, public librarians have been informally innovating on the service model.

As such, the innovativeness of this model is three-fold - (i) it sought to apply innovation through design thinking to update South Africa's public libraries system, (ii) it sought to formalize informal innovations for greater coherence and support, and (iii) it sought to capacitate librarians and patrons for the challenges in their present context.

What is the current status of your innovation?

Completed the pilot
Received user-tested solutions
Developing proposals through the Think Tank Conference in February 2024

Innovation Development

Collaborations & Partnerships

Government - Innovation for Impact
Role: Managing the pilot, strategic guidance on applying innovation methodologies, and partnership owner. The strength of this partner was in bridging the gap between sectors (public vs. academic) in systems.

Government - Western Cape Libraries Service
Role: Managing the pilot, scaling/diffusing solutions, managing iteration.

Academic - University of Cape Town
Role: Managing the pilot, managing the students, and conducting research.

Users, Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

Government officials were capacitated with the ability to innovate, including scaling new or existing approaches to improve the service model.

Citizens are served by a more useful, applicable, and targeted approach to delivering public library services.

Academics and students are serviced by the chance to solve a real-life case study with impact to service delivery.

Innovation Reflections

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

The results of the pilot were three solution sets, each seeking further refinement from the provincial government.

The results were tested through the design thinking double helix approach with users on-site during the pilot, and then again before submission.

Further results are expected as the approach is tested for inclusion in the Provincial Strategic Plan of 2024-2029.

Challenges and Failures

Various challenges have been encountered, including:
- Language barriers, as design thinking is primarily conducted in English while the Western Cape has two other official languages.
- Personnel challenges through the unfortunate death of a colleague intimately involved in the pilot and the key man dependence therein.
- Ongoing fiscal crises in South Africa have put some of the libraries' funding under threat.

Conditions for Success

- Strong push for innovation through leadership
- Institutional prioritization
- Human resources and financial resources
- Need

Replication

The results will be replicated/scaled through the Think Tank Conference, where service model improvements will be decided upon for the remaining 372 libraries in the province.

Lessons Learned

Seek innovators who are ready for the difficult work of iteration. Engage honestly with stakeholders on the pitfalls and challenges. Seek partnerships with different strengths than your team has. Avoid key man dependencies at all costs.